New pictures from a Chinese case manufacturer suggest that the next-gen iPod Touch and iPod Nano will get video recording.
CoM has acquired new pictures of clay models used to make molds for iPod cases. The clay models appear to show a microphone next to the camera on the back.
See the full picture of the iPod Touch model below — there’s a small, round hole to the immediate right of the camera. The shape and placement suggests it is a microphone (or possibly a status light, like the green status light on Apple’s iSight camera to show it is active and recording).
And since a microphone is of little use for taking still pictures, its presence on the new iPods suggest both devices will be able to record video.
In addition, all the new iPod cases published by CoM last week have cutouts next to the camera.
The cutouts look as though they are designed to accommodate a microphone. As previously reported, Chinese cases makers are so confident they have the specs and dimensions of the new iPods, they are already making cases for them.
The same cutouts are present in dozens of cases from several different manufacturers, suggesting they all got the same intelligence (which may be faulty of course).
One case manufacturer, who asked not to be identified, said her company didn’t know the hardware capabilities of the new iPods, but was very confident about their outside dimensions.
“We just got the size of these new iPod products and knew both of Touch 3 & Nano 5 have a camera,” she wrote in email. “I’m not sure for the other details.”
UPDATE: As reader G points out in the comment below, the round hole next to the camera is more likely a microphone than a status light. The story has been updated to reflect that.
Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac.
Leander is a longtime technology reporter and the author of six acclaimed books about Apple, including two New York Times bestsellers: Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products and Inside Steve’s Brain, a biography of Steve Jobs.
He’s also written a top-selling biography of Apple CEO Tim Cook and authored Cult of Mac and Cult of iPod, which both won prestigious design awards. Most recently, he was co-author of Cult of Mac, 2nd Edition.
Leander has been reporting about Apple and technology for nearly 30 years.
Before founding Cult of Mac as an independent publication, Leander was news editor at Wired.com, where he was responsible for the day-to-day running of the Wired.com website. He headed up a team of six section editors, a dozen reporters and a large pool of freelancers. Together the team produced a daily digest of stories about the impact of science and technology, and won several awards, including several Webby Awards, 2X Knight-Batten Awards for Innovation in Journalism and the 2010 MIN (Magazine Industry Newsletter) award for best blog, among others.
Before being promoted to news editor, Leander was Wired.com’s senior reporter, primarily covering Apple. During that time, Leander published a ton of scoops, including the first in-depth report about the development of the iPod. Leander attended almost every keynote speech and special product launch presented by Steve Jobs, including the historic launches of the iPhone and iPad. He also reported from almost every Macworld Expo in the late ’90s and early ‘2000s, including, sadly, the last shows in Boston, San Francisco and Tokyo. His reporting for Wired.com formed the basis of the first Cult of Mac book, and subsequently this website.
Before joining Wired, Leander was a senior reporter at the legendary MacWeek, the storied and long-running weekly that documented Apple and its community in the 1980s and ’90s.
Leander has written for Wired magazine (including the Issue 16.04 cover story about Steve Jobs’ leadership at Apple, entitled Evil/Genius), Scientific American, The Guardian, The Observer, The San Francisco Chronicle and many other publications.
Leander has a postgrad diploma in artificial intelligence from the University of Aberdeen, and a BSc (Hons) in experimental psychology from the University of Sussex.
He has a diploma in journalism from the UK’s National Council for the Training of Journalists.
Leander lives in San Francisco, California, and is married with four children. He’s an avid biker and has ridden in many long-distance bike events, including California’s legendary Death Ride.
You can find out more about Leander on LinkedIn and Facebook. You can follow him on X at @lkahney or Instagram.
